First, training camp was postponed. Then the preseason was canceled. Now the first two weeks of the regular season are lost.

For rookie Klay Thompson, this prolonged wait for his NBA career to begin can seem unbearable. But he's trying to take it in stride.

"That's really bad news. It's tough with all this messy labor stuff going on," Thompson said of the canceled games. "(But) it means I have more time to work."

The Warriors have a core of youngsters who could have used a full preseason regimen -- especially with a new coaching staff coming aboard.

Their three rookies -- Thompson, Jeremy Tyler and Charles Jenkins -- still need to acclimate to the NBA game. Even Golden State's second-year players require continued development and experience to reach their potential.

They all are missing out on coaching and the opportunity to develop chemistry with the veteran players. As long as the lockout lasts, they are left to their own devices.

"I'm so bored down here," Thompson said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "All us rookies, we want to get to camp and play badly, prove ourselves."

Added second-year guard Jeremy Lin: "It definitely hurts us more compared to guys going back to teams they've played on for a while."

That's why Thompson, taken No. 11 overall by the Warriors in June's draft, said he has been working so hard, making sure he is primed and ready the moment the lockout ends. To that end, he has basically held his own personal training camp.

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Thompson said he works out twice a day, lifting weights and playing pickup games at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana. There, he works out with his brother Mychel, former Arizona star Miles Simon and former Stanford star Landry Fields, who excelled as a rookie with the New York Knicks last season. Thompson said he also has played lots of pickup ball with Tyler, a second-rounder the Warriors acquired on draft day in June.

Thompson also is spending time at the Sports Science Lab in Southern California, where he works on his flexibility, lateral movement and quickness. He also does Bikram yoga (performed in a room with the temperature above 100 degrees) every other day.

The results? After playing last season at Washington State at 200 pounds, he has bulked up to 208 pounds. He said he has added three inches to his vertical jump, now at 32 inches, and is better at jumping off two feet. Also -- and this is big -- he can now touch his toes.

"Before the draft process, I could only reach my ankles," Thompson said. "I'm in real good shape. My lower body is a lot stronger. I'm jumping the best I ever have. I've improved a lot with my explosiveness and first step this summer."

Because of an injured knee, Lin wasn't able to go all out this summer as Thompson did. For four months, Lin only could lift weights as he was rehabbing his right knee, which sustained a partial tear in his patella tendon in April. Lin finally was cleared for full duty in late August and reported his knee felt fine after he played three games in four nights during an exhibition in China earlier this month.

Lin is back in the Bay Area and trying to get in shape, working out at Palo Alto High with old high school teammates and strengthening his knee at Sparta Science in Menlo Park.

"I'm trying to get my speed and agility back," Lin said. "Getting stronger is definitely important for me. Obviously, I'm working on my jump shot. I'm also working on ballhandling and being able to make different passes."

Second-year forward Ekpe Udoh said he is working on making his midrange jumper automatic by taking at least 500 shots per day. He is in a Detroit suburb, and he is staying in shape by working out with a trainer and playing pickup games at Michigan State and Michigan.

Jenkins, the Warriors' second-round pick out of Hofstra, is working out with his roommate and friend Kemba Walker, the former UConn star who was drafted No. 9 overall by Charlotte. In addition, Jenkins works out with a trainer and stays abreast of the labor dealings.

"The moment I hear it's all clear," Jenkins said, "I'm on the next flight out to Cali. ... But I've waited 22 years. Hopefully I can stand to wait a little longer."

What has made the wait a bit more irritating, a few of the young players said, was the taste they already have gotten. In September, 10 Warriors attended an Impact Basketball camp in Las Vegas.

For a weekend, the young players trained with guards Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry and veteran forwards David Lee and Dorell Wright. They all worked out together, played five on five and even had an unofficial team dinner.

For Thompson, the tease made him all the more eager.

"It was a great four days," he said. "I wish this (lockout) thing wasn't so drawn out. We could've been playing together, three to four weeks by now. That's what's so hard, knowing what we could have already accomplished together."